Pavel Datsyuk and Ville Leino also tallied for the Red Wings, who had dropped four of five coming in. Jimmy Howard earned the win with a 20-save performance.

"I've been struggling quite a bit putting the puck in the net," Helm said. "It was nice to see the puck go in the net today."

Brandon Yip netted two power-play goals for Colorado, which lost for just the third time in its last nine games. Matt Duchene and Darcy Tucker both collected two assists, while Craig Anderson stopped 31 shots in defeat.

A tip-in by Yip tied the game at two with 8:01 remaining in the third period, but Leino's deflection of a Derek Meech point shot restored the lead with 3:52 left in regulation.

The Avalanche looked to draw even on the power play, pulling Anderson to create a 6-on-4 advantage in the late stages, but Helm's empty-netter with 23 seconds to go secured the win.

"We found a way to get back in the game, make it 2-2," Anderson said. "It's unfortunate that's the way things went."

Datsyuk's well-placed wrister to the top right corner opened the scoring with 7:04 remaining in the second period. Helm skated in on a breakaway and lifted the puck over a sprawled netminder five minutes later.

Colorado came back on the same power play, trimming the deficit to 2-1 on Yip's marker with 47.6 seconds left in the frame.